A nationwide air traffic control ground stop grounded every U.S. flight on Friday afternoon, compounding a wave of technical disruptions that included a global Microsoft outage and Silicon Valley turmoil.
The federal ground stop lasted more than four hours after a technology upgrade overloaded antiquated equipment, creating intermittent communications and radar gaps, administration officials reported.
Federal Aviation Administration administrator Bryan Bedford said that airline schedules should return to normal by late Sunday as air travel smoothed out by Saturday morning.
The transportation disruption coincided with a widespread Microsoft software failure that affected millions of users globally. Microsoft explained that the problem “was introduced by an issue during an earlier network capacity upgrade that surfaced” following a recent network change, adding that services were fully restored by Saturday.
Both the Federal Aviation Administration and Microsoft confirmed that malicious activity played no role in the incidents.
Tori Perkins, a 34-year-old resident of Hawaii stranded on a layover at San Diego International Airport, questioned the narrative.
“It’s one of those things where I don’t necessarily believe what the government says,” Perkins told reporters. “I don’t know what’s true because there are so many people saying different things.”
“The aliens have landed,” Stephen King, writer, wrote in a Friday post. “That’s the REAL reason for the ground stop. They don’t want to start a worldwide panic.”
The technological breakdown also renewed attention on infrastructure funding. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy appealed for tens of billions of dollars to modernize the nation’s aging air traffic network.
Congress approved $12.5 billion in funding before, which allowed the Federal Aviation Administration to swap thousands of copper wire links for fiber optic cables and upgrade hundreds of radio systems. Meanwhile, the White House has pressed for an additional $30 billion to finish the overhaul.
Among those caught in the travel disruptions was Chuck Amasio, a 68-year-old resident of Rahway, New Jersey, who experienced a canceled flight at Newark Liberty International Airport that led to a few drinks with his brother at an airport bar and an unexpected hotel stay.
The reporting surrounding the ongoing technological issues and infrastructure responses involved contributions from Associated Press journalists Elliot Spagat in San Diego, Ali Swenson in Chicago, Jessica Hill in Las Vegas, and Aron Ranen in Newark.
Earlier coverage: Microsoft 365 Outage Disrupts Governments and Airlines Globally